1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device such as an integrated circuit (IC) or a large scale integration (LSI), and more particularly, to a semiconductor device including an antenna and a radio transmission/reception function built in a semiconductor element or the semiconductor device to exchange information between semiconductor devices by radio communication, with reduced connection lead wire.
2) Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in semiconductor devices having the radio function, transfer of signals and information is all performed by radio communication. For example, a semiconductor device in which an antenna and a radio transmission/reception function circuit are mounted on a semiconductor element to perform communication or information transfer by radio wave between the semiconductor element and another semiconductor element, is proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-60130).
In the conventional semiconductor device having the radio function, however, transfer of signals and information other than power supply is all performed by radio communication without using lead terminals. Accordingly, when the function of the semiconductor device and the radio communication function are lost due to malfunction by noise or the like, since the radio is the only transfer method of signals and information, there is no other function recovering method than turning off the power supply and restarting the device.
The power is normally supplied from a printed circuit board collectively to all semiconductor devices. Therefore, in a system in which a plurality of semiconductor devices having such a radio function are used, the only method of recovering the function is to reset the whole system by turning off the power supply. Furthermore, even in normal operation, all semiconductor devices receive a signal or information, which is required only for a particular semiconductor device, due to the radio communication, and hence it is necessary to determine whether the signal or the information is required. As a result, operation with low power consumption is not possible.